NEW DELHI, DEC 5: India in 1997 was the world's second largest rice and wheat producer, behind China, third largest total cereal producer, behind China and the US, and largest pulses and tea producer.According to new UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) production yearbook figures, India was also the second largest onion producer after China, and the sixth largest potato producer behind China, Russia, Ukraine, the US and Poland and just ahead of Germany.In pulses it retained the world number one ranking just ahead of China, and in sugarcane it came second after Brazil and just ahead of China. In the output of oilseeds such as rapeseed, groundnut and sesame it took second place behind China.In tea it remained number one, ahead of China and Sri Lanka, while in coffee production it was the world number nine.It also remained the world's number one jute producer but at a productivity ranking - output per unit of land - of world number five. In cotton output it was world number three behindChina and the US, though its productivity ranking was a poor world number 15. The only major crop where India's ranking in terms of its productivity was the same and not lower than its output ranking was coffee. This means this was the only major crop where it was not globally uncompetitive not only in relative but also in absolute terms. At the world's ninth largest coffee producer, India's yield of coffee was also the ninth largest in the world.Elsewhere, there were vast mismatches in India's output ranking and its productivity ranking.The productivity of most crops is determined by geographic and climatic factors as well as by cultivation techniques and technology. The latter can be improved but since the former pre-determined, no country can be an equally efficient producer of all crops.Within its given mix of conditions, the crops it can produce most efficiently - where output is greatest per unit of land - is where it is the most competitive, or least uncompetitive, producer. A comparison ofIndia's world ranking in the output of particular crops and its productivity ranking yields a broad picture of its competitiveness.In rice, for instance, where it was the second largest producer, its productivity ranking was 10th. Indonesia at output ranking number three had productivity ranking number six, while the US at output ranking number eleven was the third most efficient rice producer. The most efficient rice producer was Egypt, though its output ranking was a relatively low 14.In wheat, the gap between India's output and efficiency of production was smaller, with the second largest output and the seventh largest yield per hectare. America, the third largest wheat producer, was only its sixth most efficient producer, while the UK was the most efficient though its output was only the world's 12th largest.In total cereal output, where India is the third largest producer, its productivity ranking is abysmal at 12th.
